Salute Resistance to G8/G20 Summits
One Humanity Rising Against Imperialism and War
All Out to Oppose G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto! Week of Action to Oppose G8 and G20
Tell the World the Truth about Canada’s Record on Indigenous Rights


 

Salute Resistance to G8/G20

One Humanity Rising Against Imperialism and War

Peoples around the world are demonstrating their rejection of U.S. imperialist wars and all the U.S. crimes against humanity and mother earth. Everywhere it can be seen that we are One Humanity with One Struggle for Our Rights! This growing fight for rights, including the right to govern and decide, is opening a path forward. The broad resistance being organized to the G20 is contributing to this struggle, mobilizing and organizing to further strengthen the resistance of the peoples. The U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization salutes all those joining in this struggle and stands with the peoples in saying Down with U.S. Imperialism! No to U.S. Militarization and Annexation! Yes to the Fraternal Unity of the Peoples!

The reality that U.S. imperialism cannot meet the needs of the peoples and systematically acts against their rights can be seen in its increasing militarization of all aspects of life, both at home and abroad. Life has shown that the U.S. has no solutions, whether for ending the Gaza siege and contributing to peace in Palestine, for relief and rebuilding in Haiti and New Orleans, for the massive BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf, for protecting the rights of immigrants, for providing the most basic security to working people in the U.S.

The U.S. is not only stepping up aggressive wars against Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but threatening war against Korea and Iran and engaging in one provocation after the other. Militarization, with a military answer to all problems is the response of U.S. imperialism.

President Barack Obama was selected as champion of the U.S. imperialists in part to hide this reality while securing conciliation with U.S. imperialism. He presents the U.S. as a “partner,” and that he will establish “equal partnerships.” The content of these imperialist partnerships is already evident in Canada. The U.S. is increasing its annexation and seizing resources to the detriment of Canadians. The U.S. is organizing to put Canadian troops and police agencies under its control and uses events like the G20 for live exercises under U.S. command. It embroils Canada in torture and the war in Afghanistan. And it does so through increasing annexation and the threat and use of force. Military superiority is the U.S. only hope and daily life is showing the grave dangers this reality poses for the peoples. This includes the massive police-state measures taken as part of the G20 Summit. Intimidation, use of force, criminalization of dissent — this is U.S.-style democracy in action.

A main feature of imperialist militarization is increased executive power while eliminating the role of the public. This too is readily seen with the G20. The public is kept even from being anywhere near the Summit, with massive fencing and policing agencies, under the dictate of the U.S. The views and concerns of the public are to be dismissed entirely. The G20 itself is to be the G1, with Obama issuing decrees to China and all the other countries of G20 to serve U.S. interests.

Obama is presiding over a tremendous concentration of economic power in the U.S., which is reflected in concentration of political power in the executive. He is acting to both secure and justify arrangements of executive power while presenting himself, and the U.S., as a force concerned about the people and their needs. The massive bailouts, expanding the war on terror, securing the border, the G20 security, all are presented as “protecting the people.” By presenting a profile that he, as executive, can and will provide for the people, he prepares the ground for acceptance of arrangements of far greater executive power and dictate. Only he, the president, can bring change — not legislative bodies and certainly not the people. The peoples are to have no role.

This U.S. direction is coming into direct conflict with the demands of the peoples for a democracy that serves them. Experience is bringing to the fore the necessity for a modern democracy where the people themselves are empowered to decide. The G20 itself, and resistance to it, reveals this contradiction. The fencing, police state measures and closed-door meetings of the few reflect the direction toward executive rule, dominated by U.S. imperialism and its use of force. The resistance reflects the striving of the peoples for political power, for exercising their right to decide. Obama is striving to block this and secure conciliation with U.S. imperialism and its striving for world empire.

Americans are taking up their responsibility to stand with Canadians and all the world’s people in rejecting any conciliation with U.S. imperialism and its partnerships against the peoples at home and abroad. We will be joining the actions against the G20 and organizing to build relations of mutual respect and equality, relations of fraternal unity. This can be done be advancing the fight against U.S. annexation, for sovereignty, and for an end to U.S. imperialism.

We join all those fighting against war and aggression. What is coming to the fore is the need for anti-war governments that reject use of force and recognize that Our Security Lies in Our Fight for Rights! And the right to govern is emerging front and center in this fight.

No to U.S. Militarization and Annexation!
Yes to the Fraternal Unity of the Peoples!
One Humanity, One Struggle!

[TOP]


All Out to Oppose G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto!

Activists in Ontario, Quebec and cities across Canada are organizing to oppose the G8 and G20 Summits organized by the Government of Canada. The G8 Summit is taking place from June 25-26 in Huntsville, Ontario, two hours north of Toronto. It will be immediately followed by the G20 Summit in Toronto from June 26-27. Demonstrations were already held on April 25 against the G8 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Halifax. TML calls on everyone to go all out to participate in events to oppose the G8 and G20 and Canada’s participation in bodies, which undermine Canadian sovereignty and security and that of the peoples of the world.

The exclusion of the people from decision-making permeates the official G8 website. It does not list an official agenda for the summit saying only that ministerial meetings have been taking place in the lead-up to the summit dealing with “major issues affecting international peace and security, while continuing to promote respect for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law;” and “key issues that have been at the heart of international meetings throughout the global economic crisis, such as fiscal responsibility, cooperation in financial sector regulation and following through on development commitments.” The Huntsville summit follows the prior summit held in L’Aquila, Italy from July 8-10, 2009.

Meanwhile, the theme of the G20 Summit is “Recovery and New Beginnings,” ostensibly focusing on “recovery from the global economic and financial crisis and the implementation of commitments from previous G20 summits, while laying the foundation for sustainable and balanced growth.” This will include evaluating the work to “strengthen financial regulatory systems,” “ensure transparency in the marketplace,” “reduce excessive risk taking” and “encourage a culture of prudent behavior focused on the long term.” Regarding the so-called stimulus programs put in place by the G20 countries, the summit website states: “Leaders must turn their attention at the G20 Toronto Summit to developing coordinated exit strategies to ensure that policies are sustainable in the medium term.” Under the heading “Global Trade and Growth,” the website states: “[At the 2009 summit i]n Pittsburgh, leaders committed to continuing efforts to guard against protectionism and to liberalize trade. Canada, which has unilaterally lowered tariffs as part of its stimulus package, will work with G20 partners to encourage ongoing multilateral efforts towards further liberalization.” The Toronto summit follows the 2009 summit in London, England, which was met with mass protests against the self-serving machinations of the world elite and financial oligarchy during a time of unprecedented economic crisis.

It is unacceptable that the few nations that comprise the G8 and G20 decide the fate of the world’s peoples. These brief excerpts from the summit websites underscore the retrogressive modus operandi of such international summits to disempower the world’s peoples and ensure their agendas and demands are blocked, starting by the fact the meetings will be held in private with anti-social and anti-national decisions made to the detriment of the people and behind their backs.

Activists are organizing a People’s Summit from June 18-20 (www.peoplessummit2010.ca) and a week of action from June 21-27 featuring several mass protests to present their demands and oppose the G8 and G20 (see below). The website for the People’s Summit states:

“The 2010 G20 Summit, set to take place in Toronto, Ontario (June 26-27, 2010) presents Canadian and international civil society organizations and groups with an opportunity to strengthen our collective voice and lend cohesion to our efforts on the environment, poverty, human rights and social justice.

“The actions and policies of the G8 and G20 have significant impacts on millions of lives the world over, and with this, comes an opportunity for us — community organizers, activists, non-governmental organizations, independent media, workers, impacted communities, artists — the people — to work together to educate, empower and ignite the positive change we would like to see in our world.

“We converge in Toronto from June 18-27 to create a space where diverse local and international movements can democratically organize to advocate and educate on behalf of global justice.”

After the People’s Summit, The Toronto Community Mobilization Network is providing infrastructure and logistical support for events, protests and actions taking place between June 21 and 27. In a media advisory the network states:

“The leaders gathering at the G8/G20 summits are a group of illegitimate, self-selected people whose narrow vision for the world is both unsustainable and disastrous for communities everywhere,” says Sharmeen Khan, a spokesperson for the Toronto Community Mobilization Network. “We are here to tell them that we are the many and they are the few — our struggles and our voices will overcome their exclusionary agenda.”

“Harper wants to hide Canada’s poverty and homelessness, persistent attacks on Indigenous peoples and migrants, and the Alberta Tar Sands, Canada’s largest environmental disaster, behind fences and road blocks,” says Syed Hussan, spokesperson for the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, “but community organizations in Toronto will make sure that the world sees what Harper is concealing.”

“Indigenous activists, migrant justice organizers, environmentalists, anti-poverty groups, labor unions, queer, feminist and disAbility rights communities are all gathering under the Toronto Community Mobilization Network umbrella,” explains Khan. “People are speaking to each other, connecting struggles, building alliances and developing solutions. These actions and protests will be the building blocks towards grassroots social justice in this city.”

“As Toronto’s residents with experience creating real solutions in our communities, schools, shelters, workplaces and on our streets, it is our responsibility to ensure that the marginalized voices of the billions shut out of these meetings are heard loud and clear,” Hussan adds. “We anticipate an empowered people’s movement from around the globe uniting in struggles for real justice at the community level, joining us in Toronto to build a real alternative.”

Despite the fact that it is the anti-social, anti-national neoliberal policies of the G20 countries that wreak destruction on the world through economic and military aggression, media and police are attempting to create fear and uncertainty about protests against the summits so as to demobilize the people and to justify suppression of rights in the name of increased security. A March 23 Toronto Star item is typical of these attempts, reporting on a meeting between the Toronto police and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), which represents commercial real estate companies in the Greater Toronto Area. The Star report stated:

“[Constable Ed] Boltuc explained that two fenced security perimeters will encircle the summit site, which is the Metro Toronto Convention Center on Front St. W. [...] RCMP will oversee the innermost layer, which will wrap tightly around the convention center and nearby hotels housing visiting heads of state.

“This inner security zone will be strictly controlled during the summit weekend and blocked off with an ‘unscalable’ fence rising at least 3 meters (10 feet), Boltuc said. Anyone requiring access will have to pass a ‘five-tier system of security,’ he added.

“The outer layer will be protected by Toronto police, Boltuc said. While speculation had placed the boundaries at Queen St. to the north, Yonge St. to the east, Lake Shore Blvd. W. to the south and Spadina Ave. to the west, Boltuc said the area won’t be quite that large.

“Fences will start going up about two weeks before the summit, Boltuc said [...] But once the gates slam shut, workers and residents requiring access to the outer security zone will need to be registered or accredited. The process for doing that was still being finalized as of Tuesday, but the summit office will probably begin accrediting people in early April, Boltuc said.”

TML denounces these anti-people measures and psychological operations (psyops) that are meant to isolate the activists from the people.

All Out to Oppose the G8 and G20! Join in!

[TOP]


Week of Action to Oppose G8 and G20

Schedule of Events

June 18-20: 2010 People’s Summit:
Building a Movement for a Just World

Friday, June 18, 6:30PM
Stories and Solutions from North and South
The Carlu, 444 Yonge Street (at College)

Saturday, June 19 & Sunday, June 20
Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street

More than 100 civil society groups from around Canada and the world will offer workshops, skillshares, panels, plenaries, strategy sessions, art, performance, and plenty more.

For detailed event listings: www.peoplessummit2010.ca
For info: coordinator@peoplessummit2010.ca, 647-702-7914

June 21-24: Themed Days of Resistance (Build Up)

Monday, June 21, 2PM
All Out In Defense of the Rights of All March
Allan Gardens, 19 Horticultural Avenue (Carlton and Sherbourne)

Tuesday, June 22
Creative Civic Transformations and Street Theatre for Gender Justice (Various times and locations TBA )

Wednesday, June 23 — Environmental Justice Day
11AM March:
“Toxic Tour of Toronto”
Alexandra Park (Dundas and Bathurst)
For information: toxictourTO@gmail.com, Facebook

7PM People’s Assembly on Climate Justice: Moving Forward From Cochabamba
An Evening of Connection and Discussion
For information: peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com, 647-869-6496,

Thursday, June 24 — Day of Action for Indigenous Rights!
11AM March and Rally:
“Tell the World the Truth About Canada’s Record on Indigenous Rights”
Queen’s Park, South Lawn (University Ave. North of College)
Organizer’s perceived level of police interference: Medium risk
For information: Defenders of the Land iswtoronto@gmail.com, http://g20.torontomobilize.org/june24

8PM Confront the Invasion! A Night of Solidarity with the Mapuche Peoples and All Indigenous Nations
Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St.
Free event
For information: wccc_98@hotmail.com, http://confronttheinvasionjune24th.wordpress.com/

Days of Action June 25-27

Friday, June 25
2:30PM Justice for Our Communities Rally, March, Block Party, Tent City
Allan Gardens, 19 Horticultural Avenue (Carlton and Sherbourne)
Organizer’s perceived level of police interference: Medium risk

A team from The Stop and Bread and Bricks will be cooking a meal to be served at the demonstration.

7:30PM Shout Out For Global Justice Forum
Convocation Hall, University of Toronto, 31 Kings College Circle. Details: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/49

Saturday, June 26
1PM People First March and Rally
Queen’s Park
Family Friendly Rally, March. Will Include Peace Rally.
Organizer’s perceived level of police interference: low risk.
For information: canadianlabour.ca

1PM Get Off The Fence!
Confrontational Anti-Colonial, Anti-Capitalist Convergence in solidarity with the People First Demonstration
Queen’s Park March in solidarity with organized labor and then onwards to the fence.
Organizer’s perceived level of police interference: High risk
For more information, contact torontospokes@ecologyfund.net
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/getoffthefence

Saturday Night Fever Radical Street Party
Late till dawn (Location TBA)
For information: http://fever2010.wordpress.com/

Sunday, June 27
6AM Getting Down to Business
Autonomous Direct Actions
Locations: Everywhere
Affinity groups invited. It’s YOUR action and social justice is the only bottom line. It’s time to get DOWN TO BUSINESS.

1PM Bike Block Action
Location TBA

2PM Funeral March

4PM Make Believe Tea Party-Copy Left
Queen’s Park
Organizer’s perceived level of police interference: Medium risk. For information: makebelieve.teaparty@gmail.com

5PM Fireworks for Prisons Anti-Prison Rally and March
Bruce Mackey Park (Dundas and Wardell)
For information: http://fireworksforprisons.wordpress.com

[TOP]


June 24 Day of Action for Indigenous Rights

Tell the World the Truth about Canada’s Record on Indigenous Rights

Dear Friends and Supporters

I have the privilege to forward this public Call Out on behalf of the “Defenders of the Land” for support and action regarding Canada hosting the G8/G20 on June 24, 2010. The Defenders are a movement of independent indigenous bodies that defend Aboriginal and Treaty territories from destructive commercial and industrial development.

The G8/G20 does impact on Aboriginal and Treaty Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Aboriginal and Treaty Rights are the underlying proprietary ownership and jurisdiction of land, water and resources in Canada. The failure of Canada to recognize Aboriginal and Treaty Rights economically forces Indigenous Peoples to live in poverty.

Canada’s economy has been established on the morally bankrupt and racially motivated concept of the Colonial Doctrines of Discovery and terra nullius, which dehumanize Indigenous Peoples. These economically motivated concepts, that legitimize stealing of land, water and resources from Indigenous Peoples have been repudiated by Canadian courts, WTO, NAFTA and UN international human rights bodies.

Indigenous Peoples have a legitimate voice to speak on macroeconomic matters that affect the ecological biodiversity that our culture depends on. Indigenous Peoples have always been consistent in challenging major commercial and industrial developments that affect our way of life. The capacity of this planet and the capacity of Canada must be considered in terms of what will be left for future generations. The G8/G20 need to realize there is a limit to growth.

Canadians who respect human rights and want to protect our environment need to realize that Aboriginal and Treaty Rights are the only legitimate means of challenging big government’s and big business’ unconditional monopoly on decision-making. The G8/G20 framework is the mechanism through which globally structured companies will consolidate money and power at the expense of domestic and Indigenous economies. The G8/G20 is a top down approach to decision making.

People need to take more responsibility for the economies we depend on. The failure of big government and big business to come up with any agreement on controlling their economic activities to reduce “Climate Change” is an alarm bell we need to hear. We need to be extremely sensitive to the irreparable ecological damage that so called development in sensitive areas like the Far North can have. Canada has learnt nothing from why the climate in the North is changing.

The Defenders of the Land are working towards building a broad support base for changing the economic parameters of western economies to include Indigenous Peoples in the decision-making and benefit-sharing. We are experiencing exactly what the planet does when Indigenous Peoples are not included in the decision-making and benefit-sharing.

Indigenous Peoples especially those who practice their traditional life styles have always been a legitimate and dependable voice against rampant development. Indigenous Peoples and the environment must be factored into the economy if we are to address the loss of ecological biodiversity and climate change that can destroy us.

Please join us on June 24, 2010 and let us make a difference. Let us tell Canada, the G8 and G20 that we want decisions that are from the bottom up and that include a strong voice from Indigenous Peoples to speak as a counter-balancing voice to big business. The signatories of this Call Out like Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug demonstrate the level of commitment that the Defenders of the Land have to protect our water from mining activities.

We are at a crossroads let us send a strong message to the G8/G20 that we do not support their top down approach to the economy because we are talking about more than jobs and consumerism but addressing our responsibility to our link to the land. Let us take non-violent action as Indigenous Peoples and Supporters on June 24, 2010.

Call from Defenders of the Land for a Day of Action on Indigenous Rights, June 24, 2010

When the G8/G20 comes to Canada in June let’s tell the world the real story about Canada’s record on Indigenous rights: a continued policy that aims to terminate Indian Peoples by removing our land and resource base and denying us the right to self-determination, under the power of the Indian Act and the Department of Indian Affairs. Canada is the only country still opposing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; the other three countries opposed to it have changed their vote or are reconsidering. Canada continues to criminalize Indigenous activists who stand up for Aboriginal and treaty rights — even though these rights have been affirmed by the Canadian constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada’s policies of dispossession and control continue to create extreme poverty and social distress for Indigenous Nations across Canada. Finally, Canada and the provinces have done nothing to investigate and stop the disappearance and murder of hundreds of Aboriginal women across the country. That is the record on Indigenous rights that lies behind the show of Aboriginal culture that Canada put on at the Olympics, and it is time the whole world came to know it.

We reject the G8 and G20 as decision-making bodies. They don’t operate on behalf on Indigenous peoples and don’t recognize or respect Aboriginal and treaty rights. The G8 and G20 are implicated in the ongoing colonization and destruction of Indigenous Peoples and their lands. This ongoing colonization in Canada and abroad is based on the racist doctrines of Discovery and terra nullius.

Defenders of the Land, a network of Indigenous Nations in land struggle, is calling for June 24, 2010, to be a cross-Canada day of non-violent action focusing on Indigenous rights.

Call to Indigenous Nations and Communities

To Indigenous nations and communities across Canada, including grassroots people, traditional leadership, elected leadership, elders, youth, women, and men: we call on you to engage in non-violent action in or near your communities on June 24, on issues and messages that are relevant to you and chosen by you. Actions could include blockades, occupations, rallies, or economic disruptions, in addition to spiritual ceremonies and community gatherings, all of which maximize respect for life and our rights as Indigenous Peoples. Non-violence is a guide for our hearts and our minds as we decide on appropriate actions to defend and protect our land, our communities, and our ways of life; it is not intended to do the work of the government by dividing us from one another or labeling each other. Communities should plan and engage in their own actions, and do what is comfortable and appropriate for themselves. Defenders of the Land can offer advice, assist with some coordination and communications, including media work, and may be able to provide some training assistance, depending on capacity. Defenders of the Land does not have capacity to offer legal support, so communities should choose their actions with this clear knowledge and be prepared to take responsibility for follow-up. Defenders of the Land may be able to connect people with offers of legal support, but this depends on availability and cannot be guaranteed.

Defenders of the Land Main Action

Defenders of the Land will also be hosting its own mass action in Toronto on June 24, to be planned in cooperation with other Indigenous and supporter groups. This action will focus on the following demands:

1. Canada must adopt and fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

2. Jointly with Indigenous communities, Canada must change its Comprehensive Land Claims policy to recognize and respect Aboriginal title and Aboriginal and treaty rights; end the policy of extinguishment; and repudiate the racist doctrines of Discovery and terra nullius.

3. Canada must stop criminalizing Indigenous Peoples for defending their rights.

4. Canada and the provinces must take coordinated action to investigate and end the ongoing murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women.

5. Canada must comply with our right to say no to all activities on Indigenous territories that commodify the sacred: air, land, water, animals, plant and genetic materials, and our traditional ecological knowledge. Indigenous Peoples must be informed of such activities, and their right to say ‘no’ respected, through a meaningful process according with their customs and respecting Aboriginal and treaty rights and the standards set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Summit

There will also be a “summit” of Indigenous representatives from around the world before the day of action.

Call to Non-Indigenous Supporters

If you are interested in organizing support actions for the Indigenous Day of Action in your area, please contact us by email at defendersoftheland@gmail.com so we can follow, network, and list simultaneous events on that day. We call on supporter groups to take guidance and respectful leadership on messaging and tactics from Defenders of the Land. We also recommend providing material support to, or joining with, nearby First Nations who have responded to the Defenders call.

[TOP]


 


Voice of Revolution
Publication of the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization

USMLO • 3942 N. Central Ave. • Chicago, IL 60634
www.usmlo.orgoffice@usmlo.org